Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 Review

Timing & Performance

Like the FZ7 (and the FZ5 before that) the FZ8 feels very responsive in use. Despite the claims made for third generation Venus Engine, as the measurements below show, there isn't a huge difference in the overall performance between the new model and its predecessor, some things are slightly slower, some slightly faster. One thing the Venus III does allow is a perfectly usable raw mode.

Again focus (using the high speed AF mode) is very fast. Shutter lag is marginally slower than the FZ7 - the difference is down to the video lag on the live preview (the actual delay between pressing the button and the shot being taken is almost instantaneous). Continuous shooting, though not quite as good as the FZ7, is impressive for a camera in this class.

Timing notes

All times calculated as an average of three operations.
Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a
7MP
Fine JPEG
image (approx. 3,380 KB per image). The media used for these tests was
a 1.0GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card.

Action

Details

Time,
secs

Power: Off to Record

2.6

Power: Off to Play

Image
displayed

1.8

Power: Record to Off

All activity ceased

2.8

Power: Play to Off

When buffer is empty, lens extended

2.8

Power: Play to Off

When buffer is empty, lens already retracted

1.4

Record Review

Image
displayed

~0.8

Mode: Record to
Play

2.1

Mode: Play to Record

Lens already extended

~0.6

Mode: Play to Record

Lens retracted

1.3

Play: Magnify

To
full magnification (16x)

~1.0*1

Play: Image to Image

Time to display each saved image

~0.3

Play: Thumbnail view

3
x 3 thumbnails

0.9

Play: Thumbnail view

5 x 5 thumbnails

4.0

Action

Details

Time,
seconds

Zoom from Wide to
Tele

36
to 432 mm (12 x) Full speed

2.6

Zoom from Wide to Tele

36 to 432 mm (12 x) Low speed

8.4

Half-press Lag (0->S1)

Wide
angle, Multi AF

~0.5

Half-press Lag (0->S1)

Wide angle, High speed 3 point AF

~ 0.3

Half-press Lag (0->S1)

Telephoto, Multi AF

~0.9*2

Half-press Lag (0->S1)

Telephoto, High speed 3 point AF

~0.5*2

Half to Full-press
Lag (S1->S2)

LCD live view or EVF, IS mode 1 (or off)

~0.07

Half to Full-press Lag (S1->S2)

LCD live view or EVF, IS mode 2

~0.12

Full-press Lag (0->S2)

LCD live view, wide angle, High speed AF

~0.7

Off to Shot Taken

LCD live view

~2.7

Shot to Shot

Flash off

1.3

Shot to Shot

Raw Mode

~3.0

Shot to Shot

Flash on (red eye off)

1.8

Shot to Shot

Flash on (red eye on)

2.0

*1

This is about as fast as you can do it using four separate presses of the zoom button

*2

Focus speed at the long end of the zoom varies quite widely - from 0.4 to 1.0 seconds, depending on the mode used and the subject matter.

Continuous mode

The tables below show the results of our continuous shooting test, indicating
the actual frame rate along with maximum number of frames and how long
you would have to wait after taking the maximum number of frames before
you could take another shot. Media used for these tests was a 1.0GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card. Shutter speed was kept above 1/200 sec during these tests.

Continuous drive mode

In burst mode the FZ8 shows a brief review image for each frame taken, but the live preview does not work between frames. There are three continuous drive modes; High (H), Low (L) and No Limit (∞).

Image Type

Mode

Avg. frames
per sec

Frames in a
burst *1

After
burst *2

5MP/7MP JPEG Fine

Continuous H

2.8 fps

5

~ 2.0s pause*3

5MP/7MP JPEG Fine

Continuous L

2.0 fps

5

~ 2.0s pause*3

5MP/7MP JPEG Fine

Continuous ∞

2.1 fps

limited by card capacity

n/a

5MP/7MP JPEG Standard

Continuous H

2.8 fps

7

~ 2.0s pause*3

5MP/7MP JPEG Standard

Continuous L

2.2 fps

7

~ 2.0s pause*3

5MP/7MP JPEG Standard

Continuous ∞

2.3 fps

limited by card capacity

n/a

*1

In a single "burst" (finger held down on shutter release).

*2

In H and L mode continuous shooting stops when the buffer is full (5 or 7 frames according to the file size/quality setting. This is the delay before the next burst

*2

The delay of around one and a half seconds is mainly down to the need to refocus before the next burst

Not bad at all for a compact in this class. The number of images per burst has decreased and the fastest shooting speed has dropped slightly since the FZ7, but with a fast card its still possible to shoot at over 2 frames per second until the card is full. Even in the fastest mode there is only a slight delay after each burst (some of which is taken up with refocusing when you press the button again), and overall there's nothing to complain about.

File Write / Display and Sizes

Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera
to process and "flush" the image out to the storage card, the
timer was started as soon as the shutter release was pressed and stopped
when activity indicator went
out. This means the timings also include the camera's processing time and
as such are more representative of the actual time to "complete the
task". The media used for these tests was a 1.0GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card.

Image Type

Time
to store
(secs)

Time
to display
(secs)

File
size *1
(approx.)

Images
on a *2
1.0GB Card

7MP RAW

~2.2

~0.3

11,343 KB *3

60

7MP JPEG Fine

~1.3

~0.3

3,380 KB

282

7MP JPEG Std

~1.0

~0.3

1,524 KB

557

5MP JPEG Fine

~1.1

~0.2

2,370 KB

404

3MP JPEG Fine

~0.7

~0.2

1,451 KB

625

*1

All
file sizes are an average of three files. As is the case with JPEG
it's difficult to predict the size of an image because it will vary
a fair amount depending on the content of the image (detail and noise).

*2

Camera estimation.

*3

All RAW files are 11,343 KB, and each is saved with a 1,500KB (std quality) JPEG

With write times averaging around 2.2 seconds for a 11.3MP Raw file, the FZ8 is pretty fast - approximately 5100KB/s. Very impressive stuff, and - with a shot -to-shot time of under 3.0 seconds one of the more usable compact camera raw modes.

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